The Utah Jazz center, however, was excited to work on his golf game Saturday afternoon at Deron Williams' charity tournament.

That might come as a surprise to some, considering he had surgery to repair his ruptured left Achilles tendon in April.

"Actually," Okur said when asked about golfing in his condition, "it's good for me."

Though he's been cleared to golf — and reap the benefits of walking the fairways — the injured center said he's "hoping" to be ready to join the Utah Jazz on the court in the preseason.

Okur even believes it's possible to play by the beginning of the NBA's regular season, which would be about six months after he ruptured the tendon in Denver. That would fit in the recovery time frame his doctor told him after his playoff-ending procedure.

"Like, so far so good," Okur said of his rehab. "Hopefully I'm going to be able to be back early and maybe catch up (in) the preseason games a little bit and go from there."

Okur still walks with a slight limp on his left side — something that the walking and golfing should help, he claims.

But the good news, he added with a smile, is that he no longer has to wear a walking boot on his right foot, something that was required for a while after he underwent surgery to repair the Achilles that ruptured during Game 1 of the Jazz's first-round playoff series against Denver. The tendon doesn't hurt anymore, either."

getting Al-Jeff sure couldn't have been good news for him either.
I'm guessing reduced minutes this year and a slow start resulting from the injury. That's a nasty injury to recover from.
not a bad guy to have off the bench though.....